Authors: Stefan J.S. Verhaegh
This PhD thesis aims to contribute to the theoretical understanding of
innovation practices by groups of users in the domain of information and
communication technologies. Based on a material-semiotic approach this
type of innovation is analyzed as community innovation. The central
focus is on the different types of actors and work. The empirical
analysis is rooted in an explorative, qualitative case study of a
grassroots effort of assembling a community Wi-Fi network in the
Netherlands. Based on the insights of this study the author argues for a
re-thinking of innovation.

Wi-Fi as community-based innovation (chapter) (November 2010)

In this chapter on the broader perspectives of the Wi-Fi innovation
journey, the role of the user in community-based innovation is studied
in detail. The domain of information and communication technologies has
become one in which the boundaries between producers and users have
become increasingly fuzzy. The availability of free and open source
software is a clear example of how communities of computer users develop
many varieties of software. In a similar vein, many popular web services
build on the efforts of – often experienced and skilful – users. At the
physical layer of telecommunication infrastructures, however,
user-initiated products and innovations are quite rare. This level is
dominated by commercial telecom and cable operators, which finance,
produce, install, maintain and innovate the expensive and often large
scale ICT infrastructures. Free access to the radio frequency spectrum,
originally intended for indoor use with Wi-Fi as a successful
implementation of wireless local area networking, has inspired users to
develop local wireless infrastructures themselves, however, challenging
this organisational dominance. In the Dutch city of Leiden a small group
of residents managed to develop a city-wide wireless infrastructure
offering local residents possibilities for free communication, under the
name Wireless Leiden. The growth and stabilisation of the grassroots
Wireless Leiden initiative is analysed as a case of community innovation.

From Innovation Community to Community Innovation: User-initiated
Innovation in Wireless Leiden In: Science, Technology and Human Values
(March 2009)

Authors: Stefan J.S. Verhaegh, Ellen van Oost, Nelly Oudshoorn

The role of users in innovation processes has gained increasing
attention in innovation studies, technology studies, and media studies.
Scholars have identified users and use practices as a source of
innovation. So far, however, little insight has been generated in
innovation processes in which communities of users are the driving force
in all phases of the innovation process. This article explores the
conceptual vocabularies of innovation studies and actor— network theory
and discusses their adequacy for describing and understanding the
dynamics of user-initiated innovation processes in which community and
innovation are closely intertwined. The authors introduce the concept of
community innovation and argue for its relevance for understanding the
full dynamics of innovations initiated and shaped by user collectives.
The article elaborates a qualitative case study of Wireless Leiden, a
local wireless network infrastructure in the Dutch town of Leiden
initiated, designed, and maintained by a local community of users.

TUDelft MSc thesis research (2012)

Who cares? Maintenance work in a Wi-Fi community innovation (April 2012)

In: Inverse Infrastructures: Disrupting the System from Below Edward Elgar
Authors: Stefan J.S. Verhaegh, Ellen van Oost
Over the years, Wi-Fi technology has inspired several citizen
communities to construct their own local – often city-wide – ICT
infrastructures. There is growing interest in the stories about the rise
and growth of community innovation, but little is known about the less
heroic yet equally important work of maintenance. This chapter explores
the role and relevance of maintenance work for the development of stable
and reliable inverse infrastructures. What kind of work needs to be
done, and how is this work distributed over the community? To shed light
on these questions we will analyze maintenance work through the example
of one specific case, Wireless Leiden, one of the largest successful and
lasting Wi-Fi communities in Europe.